Challenge ladder card display

ABSTRACT

A card rack with a vertical column of numbered pockets which receive contestants&#39;&#39; cards, each card having a top tab at one side for displaying the contestant&#39;&#39;s name above the top of the pocket. A challenger&#39;&#39;s card is turned around, back to front, and inserted in front of the card of a higher-ranked contestant in the latter&#39;&#39;s numbered pocket, and then both the challenger&#39;&#39;s and the higher-ranked contestant&#39;&#39;s name tabs at the top are visible from the front of the card rack.

United States Patent 1191 Shertenlieb [451 Feb. 4, 1975 CHALLENGE LADDERCARD DISPLAY [76] Inventor: William J. Shertenlieb, 600 N. Fig

Tree Ln., Plantation, Fla. 33313 [22] Filed: Oct. 18, 1973 [21] ApplvNo.: 407,425

H2! 11.5. (II 40/1242 [51] Int. Cl. G09! 1/10 [58 Field at Search40/124, l24t2, 124.4, 78.15;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l/l930 Fay "40/7815 l0/l933Barker.....

l2/l96] Smithm' 40/1242 Primary Examiner-Robert W. Michell AssistantExaminerwenceslao J. Contreras Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Oltman and Flynn[57] ABSTRACT 5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 1 CHALLENGE LADDER CARDDISPLAY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Various card display arrangementshave been provided heretofore for different purposes, such as forholding employees time cards, or for providing a visible record ofpresent occupancy and future reservations for hotel rooms.

However, none of the prior card displays have been intended or adaptedfor displaying the present contestants rankings and the outstandingchallenges issued in challenge ladder competitions such as in tennis,golf, chess or various card games. Such challenge ladder competitionshave become increasingly popular with various clubs and communities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present card display arrangement isspecifically intended for use in conjunction with challenge laddercompetitions to provide a prompt and effective visual ladder display ofthe present status of the competition, including present rankings andchallenges outstanding. it has a card rack with numbered, card-receivingpockets arranged vertically. Each contestant in the competition has acard with a top tab at one side that projects above a pocket in the rackat the left side if the contestants ranking corresponds to the pocketnumber, and at the right side if the contestant has a lower ranking nowand is challenging for the higher ranking, in which case the challengerscard (reversed back-tofront) is inserted in the pocket already occupiedby the higher ranked contestants card.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide anovel and improved card display arrangement for indicating visually thepresent rankings of the contestants, as well as outstanding challenges,in ladder competition.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent fromthe following detailed description of carrying a vertical series ofnumbers which are horizontally aligned individually with the pockets andincrease numerically from top to bottom.

It is to be understood that more than one vertical column of thecard-receiving pockets may be provided in the rack, if desired.

Associated with each pocket II in the card rack 10 is a card I3, asshown in FIG. 2 (front view) and FIG. 3 (back view). This card is flatand generally rectangular, with a width just slightly less than thewidth of a pocket 11 in the card rack. At the top the card has acoplanar, upwardly projecting tab 14 that extends from one side edge ofthe card laterally inward for just slightly less than half the width ofthe card. This tab is at the left side of the card, viewed from thefront, and is at the right side of the card, viewed from the back.Consequently, when one card is reversed, back-tofront, and positioneddirectly in front of another card, as shown in FIG. 4, both top tabs 14on the two cards will be visible.

The vertical length of each card is somewhat greater than the depth ofthe card-receiving pocket II in the rack so that, when a card isinserted in the pocket, the top tab 14 on that card will be completelyoutside that pocket and will be visible at the front of the card rack.

Each card is provided with markings to identify one particularcontestant and to provide for the tabulation of the results of thatcontestants previous matches in the challenge ladder competition.Preferably, the contestant's name is written on the top tab 14, on boththe front and back, and the contestants telephone number is writtendirectly beneath, also on both the front and back. Directly beneath thetelephone number, the rest a presently-preferred embodiment thereof,which is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. I is a front perspective view of the present card displayarrangement;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of one contestants card in thisdisplay;

FIG. 3 is a back elevational view of this same card;

and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary front elevational view showing a rankingcontestants card and a challenger's card in front of it in the samepocket in the card rack.

Before explaining the disclosed embodiment of the present invention indetail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in itsapplication to the details of the particular arrangement shown, sincethe invention is capable of other embodiments. Also, the terminologyused herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Theterm contestant" is intended to include an individual player or a teamof players in the competition.

of the card (both front and back) is taken up by a table with columnsfor entries of the dates, opponents and scores of that contestantsprevious matches in this competition.

In the use of this display arrangement, initially the contestants willbe numbered individually in accordance with an estimate of their presentrelative abilities, based primarily on past performance. Any contestantmay challenge a higher-ranked contestant to a match by removing his own(the challengers) card from its numbered pocket in the card rack,turning it back-to-front, and inserting it into the numbered pocket inthe card rack where the higher-ranked contestants card is located.

This serves several purposes:

I. it notifies the higher-ranked contestant, that he has beenchallenged;

2. it makes the challenger temporarily unavilable for a challenge by alower-ranked contestant, as long as the challenger's card is out of itsown pocket and is reversed back-to-front;

3. it notifies all contestants of the current challenges;

and

4. it notifes all contestants of the current standings of thosecontestants whose top tabs 14 are on the left, i.e., all except thechallengers.

If a challenger defeats a previously higher-ranked contestant then thelatters card is put down one or more positions, depending upon the rulesof the competition as established by the club or other sponsoringorganization, and the victorious challenger's card is turned around sothat its top tab I4 is at the left side of the pocket previouslyoccupied by the defeated contestant. Also, all the cards of contestantsranked below the new ranking of the just'defeated contestant are moveddown by one position in the rack.

1 claim:

I. A card display assembly kit for challenge ladder competitioncomprising the combination ofa rack having a plurality of verticallyspaced. upwardly-facing. consecutively numbered pockets of apredetermined horizontal width, and a plurality of reversible cards ofslightly smaller horizontal width than said pockets in the rack forslidable reception in said pockets individually facing forward or inpairs with one card of the pair reversed front to back, each of saidcards having a tab at one side extending across the top of the cardsubstantially less than the full width of the card and substantiallyless than the width of the pocket in the rack in which that card isreceived and projecting above the top edge of said pocket when said cardis fully inserted therein, and similar indicia on both the front and theback faces of the tab on each card for naming the contestant whose cardthat is. whereby, when any card is removed from its pocket and isreversed front to back and fully inserted into a pocket containinganother fully inserted, forwardly facing card, the top tabs on the twocards in said last-mentioned pocket are located side by side above thetop edge of said pocket and simultaneously display visibly withoutobstruction by one another the name indicia for the two contestantswhose cards those are.

2. A card display assembly kit according to claim I, wherein the tab onthe top of each card extends from a side edge of the card acrosssubstantially one-half the width of the card, whereby the tabs on twocards positioned simultaneously in one pocket of the rack. one facingforward and the other reversed front to back, do not overlapsubstantially.

3. A card display assembly kit according to claim 2, wherein the tab onthe top of each card carries the name of a particular contestant on boththe front and the back.

4. A card display assembly kit according to claim 3, wherein each cardbelow the tab at the top has a table with respective columns fordisplaying the date. opponent and outcome of that contestants previousmatches.

5. A card display assembly kit according to claim I, wherein each cardbelow the tab at the top has a table with respective columns fordisplaying the date. opponent and outcome of that contestants previousmatches.

a v r

1. A card display assembly kit for challenge ladder competitioncomprising the combination of a rack having a plurality of verticallyspaced, upwardly-facing, consecutively numbered pockets of apredetermined horizontal width, and a plurality of reversible cards ofslightly smaller horizontal width than said pockets in the rack forslidable reception in said pockets individually facing fOrward or inpairs with one card of the pair reversed front to back, each of saidcards having a tab at one side extending across the top of the cardsubstantially less than the full width of the card and substantiallyless than the width of the pocket in the rack in which that card isreceived and projecting above the top edge of said pocket when said cardis fully inserted therein, and similar indicia on both the front and theback faces of the tab on each card for naming the contestant whose cardthat is, whereby, when any card is removed from its pocket and isreversed front to back and fully inserted into a pocket containinganother fully inserted, forwardly facing card, the top tabs on the twocards in said last-mentioned pocket are located side by side above thetop edge of said pocket and simultaneously display visibly withoutobstruction by one another the name indicia for the two contestantswhose cards those are.
 2. A card display assembly kit according to claim1, wherein the tab on the top of each card extends from a side edge ofthe card across substantially one-half the width of the card, wherebythe tabs on two cards positioned simultaneously in one pocket of therack, one facing forward and the other reversed front to back, do notoverlap substantially.
 3. A card display assembly kit according to claim2, wherein the tab on the top of each card carries the name of aparticular contestant on both the front and the back.
 4. A card displayassembly kit according to claim 3, wherein each card below the tab atthe top has a table with respective columns for displaying the date,opponent and outcome of that contestant''s previous matches.
 5. A carddisplay assembly kit according to claim 1, wherein each card below thetab at the top has a table with respective columns for displaying thedate, opponent and outcome of that contestant''s previous matches.